Red Wings beat Penguins 5-4 just before end of OT

DETROIT — Daniel Alfredsson scored his second goal of the game with 1 second left in overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.

Alfredsson's shot went off Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and appeared to be knocked into the net by Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi, who scored into his own net earlier in the game. The goal stood after video review.

Detroit was up 2-0, trailed 3-2 and led 4-3 lead with 7:43 left. Craig Adams pulled Pittsburgh back into a tie two minutes later.

The banged-up Red Wings are desperately trying to close the season well enough to extend their postseason streak to 23.

Fleury made 25 saves. Detroit's Jimmy Howard stopped 39 shots.

With 3:46 left in regulation, Detroit's David Legwand was ejected and given a five-minute major for using the butt end of his stick to hit Evgeni Malkin in front of the net. The Penguins failed to take advantage of the extended opportunity with an extra skater, and it cost them in a mistake-filled game.

The Penguins scored at least twice on themselves and were called for a slew of penalties.

Olli Maatta redirected a shot into his own net with midway through the third — Todd Bertuzzi was credited with the goal — and Scuderi did the same in the second on score given to Gustav Nyquist.

Malkin scored twice, including a go-ahead goal late in the second.

Alfredsson and Nyquist put the Red Wings up 2-0, but they didn't take advantage of opportunities to build on their lead.

After the Penguins were called for four penalties in the first half of the second period, Lee Stempniak and Malkin scored 25 seconds apart to tie it and Malkin added another goal 2:16 later to put them ahead 3-2.

The Red Wings were without defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, a day after he had surgery on the middle finger of his left hand. He is expected to be out for at least a month.

By the time Ericsson is ready to return, the Red Wings might not be playing anymore.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is trying to catch the Boston Bruins for the top seeding in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins are hoping to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time in since beating Detroit in a finals rematch five years ago.

Malkin entered the game with six goals and 13 assists in his last 15 games against Detroit, including the 2008 and 2009 finals.

He was at his best after Pittsburgh was at its worst Thursday.

The Penguins were called for four penalties in a seven-minute stretch of the second period, but only gave up one goal after their first trip to the box and it was scored by one of their own players.

Nyquist was credited with a power-play goal that was knocked in the net by Scuderi early in the second period.

Stempniak redirected a shot with 4:43 left in the second and Malkin made it 2-all soon thereafter. Ten seconds into a 5-on-3 power play, Malkin's slap shot through traffic put Pittsburgh ahead 3-2 with 2:02 left in the second.

NOTES: Malkin snapped a three-game stretch without a point, his longest of the season with a goal. ... Nyquist began the game with an NHL-high 14 goals since Jan. 20 and scored for the third straight game.